You have to hand it to Zynga: one moment they’re the game company you love to hate for selling all of your personal information, and the next moment they’ve managed to draw over a million dollars from their customers for charity.

Facebook gamers who play titles like Farmville, Cityville, and Frontierville on Facebook have collectively donated well over $1 million to Save the Children through a partnership between the charity and Zynga to aid victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Zynga has expanded donations to its other titles and mobile games, like Words with Friends.

The key to Zynga’s success here is that the company is using specific in-game items to fuel its charity and relief efforts. For example, in Cityville you can buy a sweet potato crop, and in Frontierville, players can add a Kobe cow to their farm. Daikon radishes have appeared in Farmville, and more depending on the game.

When players buy items for their farms, cities, and towns with real money, they buyer is actually donating to charity. Zynga says that 100% of the money they get from the special in-game items will go directly to Save the Children.